“…Over the last decades, chalcogenide glasses have been a subject of great interest due to the myriad photon-induced phenomena they exhibit, captivating the imagination of scientists and engineers to prompt countless photonic applications ranging from biology 1,2 and telecommunications, 3,4 all-optical chips, 2,4 single photon sources 5,6 to holography. 7 Furthermore, they have been worthy of great attention from fundamental science, owing to the seemingly oxymoronic nature of the physical effects observed when the material is illuminated by photons within its band-gap energy range (E g $ 2:4 eV), e.g., giant photo-expansion 8 versus photocontraction, 9 photo-liquidity 10,11 versus photo-crystallization, 12,13 photo-darkening 14,15 versus photo-bleaching, 14 and, more frequently, photo-refraction, [15][16][17][18] to cite a few. Studies from fundamental physics and material science have led to various models attempting to explain the mechanisms behind the exciting structural reconfiguration capabilities and phenomena observed in chalcogenide glasses upon energy absorption.…”